Native American scholars build their dreams at ASU
by Debra Krol

An urban planning alumna tackles the 'chaos' in her tribe's capital, coupling her classroom knowledge with cultural understanding, Kimberly Silentman's experience is emblematic of ASU's efforts to nurture the potential of native American students.

Most visitors to Window Rock, Arizona, capital of the Navajo Nation, are struck by the area’s natural beauty. Less striking, however, has been the way in which the buildings housing the tribal government have developed as the government itself evolved over the past century.

Buildings sprang up around the community’s eponymous sandstone arch, seemingly at random, as the government grew. The current district is a motley collection of warm, vernacular-style stone buildings dating from the Depression, blocky 1960s-era utilitarian offices and crumbling modular structures. Boulders occasionally tower over two-story buildings. Uneven pavement taunts pedestrians chancing upon the district.

The disorder of the district had always been unnerving to Kimberly Silentman, who graduated from ASU with a B.S. in urban planning and received her master’s degree in the same discipline this spring. Silentman, 26, who grew up in Fort Defiance on the sprawling Navajo reservation, had drawn since childhood, and high school drafting classes had further refined her interest.

Observing the architectural decay in her tribe’s seat of government helped focus her vocational interests in community planning. During graduate school, Silentman found a way to use her connections to ASU to create a new vision for her tribe’s rapidly changing public sector. She had previously volunteered on projects with Building Great Communities, an outreach effort based in ASU’s Office of Public Affairs. The program forms and enhances partnerships to spark community development, address social issues and increase the quality of life in Arizona communities.

“ Kimberly started as a volunteer,” says Barbara Shaw-Snyder, Building Great Communities director. “She’s a very civic person in her community.” Later, Shaw-Snyder asked her what she would be interested in doing as a student worker.

What Silentman had in mind was to lead a design conference, known to architects and urban planners as a “charrette,” in order to offer a more cohesive design plan to the Navajo government — and the Navajo Nation Design Studio was born. Silentman organized the event, held over a long weekend this past May, in the hopes that it would provide the spark to eradicate decades of poor urban planning in Window Rock.

Building Great Communities provided Silentman with the time and resources including financial support to shape the conference. The studio involved a collaboration of professors from ASU and the University of New Mexico, practicing architects and urban planners, and students. Silentman also garnered support during the year-long preparation process from the Navajo Nation Council, and the American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers.

Nurturing Native Talent

Silentman’s evolution into a conference organizer represents an amazing transformation for a student who could barely speak above a whisper eight years ago, and who almost gave up on college. Her story is emblematic of the university’s efforts to nurture the potential of American Indian students.

While her family was supportive of her decision to attend ASU, finances necessitated that their contributions be limited. She shared an apartment with five other people, several of whom were cousins of hers who also attended ASU. She baby-sat for extra money, but being so far from her home, and her parents, was difficult for her.

“ The first year was really rough,” said Silentman. “One day, I got caught in a monsoon while riding my bicycle home from school in Tempe. I got stuck in a bus stop. I was soaked, and wondering what I was doing in a strange city, far from home.”

Silentman persevered, and adapted to living in a bustling college town in a large metropolitan area. She was bolstered in part by ASU’s American Indian student support programs, which, coupled with advocacy from individual faculty and staff members, have facilitated the increase of ASU’s American Indian student population from just five undergrads, all of them Navajo, in 1961 to more than 1,200 students from some 60 tribes at ASU’s four campuses in 2005.

Cal Seciwa, director of the American Indian Institute, has observed a sea change over the past 16 years since he arrived on the Tempe campus. When he first came to ASU in 1989, there were just 350 American Indian students. “In 1990, we had 15 Indian graduates at the Native American convocation at the All-Saints Center,” says Seciwa, a Zuni who wears his hair in a traditional bun. By this year, however, the Native convocation moved to Gammage Auditorium to accommodate the larger numbers of graduates, family and friends, Seciwa says.

Silentman referred to the institute as being like “a little reservation — you get to know other students from all over.” She also said she benefited greatly from the resource directory that the institute developed for Native students.

The institute provides tutoring, guidance and a place for American Indian students to gather and support each other. Yet, despite the growing numbers, challenges remain.

“ It’s a challenge to meet the retention needs of our students,” says Seciwa. “Because of the Native American retention rates being unsatisfactory, it’s important to improve.”

ASU’s support programs have helped increase retention rates from 43 to 78 percent. Seciwa offers a caveat to the statistics, though: “We have developed our own in-house rates,” he says. “We’ve had to educate the university why there’s such a gap in between our statistics and theirs.”

Keeping first-year students coming back to finish an entire undergraduate program can be difficult. Some twists and turns off the scholastic path are normal life events experienced by all students, such as starting a family. However, Seciwa notes there are other events particular to Native American students, like the depth of their strong extended family ties and the duties of ceremonial life. Sometimes, the need to return home for ceremonies or to care for family impacts Native students for an entire semester, says Seciwa.

One innovative program that helps American Indian students focus on their education is the Native American Achievement Program. ASU signed intergovernmental agreements with the Navajo Nation, San Carlos Apache Tribe, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe to manage scholarships and monitor academic progress during students’ first two years. The program also administers the Wassaja Scholar Program, which is funded by an endowment given by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. ASU officials praise the achievement program for its success in retaining students, and they are approaching other tribes about participating.

Some of ASU’s other Native organizations include a chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society; American Indian Students United in Nursing, which nurtures Native nursing students; and Arizona Tri-Universities for Indian Education, which, in partnership with the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University, promotes educational opportunities and works to improve academic and student services to American Indian students.

Team Efforts

At the start of the three-day charrette, Peterson Zah, former president of the Navajo Nation, notes in his welcoming speech that the tribe’s governing structure evolved from a family and clan-based leadership to its current formal model.

Zah, who is also ASU President Michael Crow’s special adviser on American Indian affairs, asks conference participants to bring order to the architectural chaos of the capital district and spur a similar evolution in the district’s design.

“ All of a sudden, you start seeing that there should be some sort of a master plan because the place is very beautiful,” he says. “You hope somewhere along the way that people would start designing according to what Mother Earth dictates.”

That’s the challenge to the architects and urban planners gathered at the event: to preserve the historic buildings and surroundings, including the exquisite Navajo Nation Council Building, while planning 75 years ahead for the growth of the nation’s largest tribal government.

After a tour of the district, four design teams, each composed of at least a professor, one industry professional, a local cultural consultant, and university students, pool their creativity to shape plans for the district. Over the course of the next two days, the teams labor to refine visions and ideas into conceptual drawings.

After the event, Shaw-Snyder asserted that the charrette’s success was driven by the passion and desires of both Native students and the community, but especially by Silentman’s clear vision.

“ Every time someone made a suggestion, Kimberly always said, “ Let me check with my group,’” she said. “Native American students need to be able to use their culture and have culture influence their product.”

Improving The Way

The changes in the last decade and a half at ASU have made a difference for current and future Native American Sun Devils. Nona Baheshone, a planning consultant who received her bachelor’s degree in urban planning in 1985, came to ASU fresh from a tiny high school in Oklahoma with just 50 students in her graduating class. Baheshone says she felt intimidated by the huge campus, and suffered from homesickness and culture shock. Culturally sensitive resources were sparse at that time.

“ The level of support wasn’t there for us. When I went to school, I just got off the bus. I kind of knew where the dorm was. I didn’t know anybody, or where to go or what to do,” says Baheshone, who’s Navajo and Apache.

On the other hand, Baheshone’s daughter, Jacqueline Bissilla, a justice studies major with designs on law school, attended several Native college preparatory programs before coming to ASU. “It really made a big difference for her, having that orientation, knowing where to go and what to do,” says Baheshone.

For ASU officials like Zah, that is welcome news.

After his welcome speech at the design conference, Zah pauses for a moment before jumping into his silver Nissan pickup truck to head off to Farmington, N.M., where he’ll give the first of six high school graduation speeches. Momentum is building for the Native American population at ASU, he said.

“There’s no turning back,” says Zah. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we get 1,500 students next year.”

Debra Utacia Krol, a member of the Xolon Salinan Tribe of Central California, is the book editor for Native Peoples Magazine.

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Grandfather's Wisdom

Photo: John McIntosh

Window Rock's natural beauty frames the Navajo Nation's capital district.

Native American graduates celebrated their heritage as they marched together into the Spring 2005 Commencement ceremony.

Kimberly Silentman, right, organized the design conference for the Navajo capital district.

A design team at work

Above Photos: John McIntosh

Photos: Donovan Quintero

Top: Each design team had students, professors and professionals working together.
Below: Community members review the design proposed.

Photos: John McIntosh

Conference attendees were challenged to preserve the historic buildings and surroundings of the area, while planning 75 years ahead for the growth of the nation's largest tribal government.